37 Comments

OK, Suzanne. Count me in!

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Happy to let one of my favorite Substackers into anything. Am presuming it's the committee to think with for a conversation to save the world that I am busy recruiting now. Sit tight!

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Music can be such a heart opener.

Just now I was taking care of some household tasks, and had my Love Songs playlist playing.

Here it is, in case you want something heart opening to listen to as you're busy around the house.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc4o_wNoOBk&list=PLE6DF56A0AFD4689C

I wonder if doing the somewhat fun and frivolous might be a good way to start.

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I come from fun and frivolous. There were four years of ELF Enterprises Unlimiting, where ELF stood for Enlightenment, Love, and Fun, and the motto was, "Put the elf back in self." That was the late '70s and would not fly now, although someone who knows me suggested a cabinet role for me as Secretary of Fun!

Thanks so much for the playlist. I haven't gotten into music enough to make one of my own and always wish I had one.

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I LOVE the slogan "Put the elf back in self", Suzanne. It might be a little too frivolous for this loaded historic moment, but I still love it.

I was thinking about you the other day, and don't know if you saw this post of mine, but I'd like to share it with you. It was something I felt hadn't been said but needed to be, so I went ahead and said it.

Here it is: https://dianavaneyk.substack.com/p/gratitude-to-jewish-people-standing?r=aex03

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I liked your posting but failed institutions are also part of the reason we are facing a conundrum. We also need organization structures to hold fallible human nature in check.

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No end to what we need, but I look to what's fundamental, where if that got dealt with what follows would be handled. To me it's to change our creation story where instead of being rugged individualists we are sacred creatures, for a shorthand version of it. Change how we think and it changes what we do. But even more fundamental than advocating any particular change is serious dialogue among savvy people about what that fundamental thing would be. Maybe it's something else...???

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Who decides what's fundamental ? Are savvy people sometimes rugged individuals ?

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That's what people I'm looking for, who think about such things, would deal with. The people I categorize as savvy would know we have get beyond rugged individualism to change our worldview to where we care about each other as much as we care about ourselves

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ALL institutions start to fail once they reach their individual incompetence point

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I agree with so much of what you say, Suzanne. But 'nobody' is overstating it.

We're out here doing our thing. Trying to make a difference.

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Join the club of people who are sure there is scheming going on, but when I say nobody I mean nobody. When I'm give examples they all turn out not to be dealing with what to do now to create a massive change of heart. Lots of wonderful people doing wonderful things but not the thing I'm talking about. $100 is yours to prove me wrong!

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We often spoke about our money system. You reference the 'economy' here.

Church of Burn's mission is 'to change money by changing our relationship to money'. Each time someone burns some for the first time they *literally* change their relationship to money. Change money and you change pretty much everything. Particularly our relations with each other and with nature.

You hope your $100 will draw forth ideas to save the world? Here's my challenge to you. Take that $100 dollar bill. Light a candle. Give me 30 minutes of your time (I have given you far, far more already). And listen (really, listen - don't read) to this all the way through. https://churchofburn.substack.com/p/sermon-for-the-mycelium?r=3qzwt

There'll be a bit of a cultural/temporal gap for you to bridge - this was created for a specific group of people on 23rd of November last year. But you'll figure that out, easy. The last ten minutes (don't skip! - I want 30 mins or nothing!) is a universal message about humankind and money. If you burn the $100 you owe me $100. If not then, even so, I hope you appreciate - as I say - that even though you might not think it'll work, some of us are out here giving it everything we have. Xx

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You are on a cause. it makes a big point. But it's not going to get humanity to be loving instead of warring in any time frame consistent with the urgency of needing to change our ways. When I wasn't so hell bent on that singular mission I'd play with you. I've told you that burning money is an echo of Marshall Thurber who was a big deal during the human potential movement shaking people up with how radical what you are doing is. Happy for subscribers here to check you out!

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To change a person's heart, that is, to change their way of thinking, takes a great amount of time and effort on the part of that person. It is a very long struggle. First, that person has to recognize that there is a need for that person to change, and they need some kind of motivation to consider how they could go about making that change. They both have to recognize a need to change and find some motivation to make the change.

They have to be open to the fact that they need to change, and they have to search out, investigate, consider, world views contrary to their own. They have to be open to considering that they may be wrong and this other way of looking at things is right, even though they may have learned otherwise and that changing their way of seeing things may seem like a betrayal of their personal beliefs. And, they have to consider that other people will be trying to convert them to beliefs that, superficially, sound reasonable, but are in fact those others trying to use them in promoting their own agenda and could care less about you or humanity.

And this is just for starters. I think that, before humanity can make a change of heart, each of us individually has to first find some personal motivation to begin that long arduous task of finding a way to make that change in themselves. And then, they have to begin. That's what I think.

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I'm suggesting soothing else. Have a look at this track about how adopting a new creation story is what would make a wholesale change in how we think collectively. We are overdue for that --the story we are in, which fundamentally celebrates rugged individualism, dates back to when we thought the Milky Way was the only galaxy and now we know there are some two trillion.

Science has shown us the basis for a new story, where we are all interconnected and are custodians of the Earth, and if that is what prevailed the whole ambiance of humanity would be caring instead of exploiting. Check out my track on that here: https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/s/brian-thomas-swimme

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With you all the way there, Randi. We all need to admit Mea Culpa, the key to change.

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Here are some questions that we can ask each other (and listen to the answers) that will lead to a change of heart. What do you love about the Earth? What sort of world do you want our great-great-grandchildren to inherit? What is one small thing you can do (or not do) today to bring about that world? How will you feel knowing you are helping to bring it about?

I am hopeful. I saw the far future a long time ago and we do make it!

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Hopefully you're a good visionary. Those questions would be great for schools to deal with to get kids tuned in. Even to write the answers and get them in social media. How to get the bulk of humanity paying attention is the challenge we have.

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That is exactly the challenge, Suzanne. It's why I support you and some of the writers I met through your Essays. Perhaps you would be kind enough to send all of them to me, that I can support more of their authors too..... Kind regards, Maurice

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Jut on case you didn't pick this up from another response I made to you: https://suespeaks.org/essay-contest/

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Excellent questions that should be asked daily. May I quote you, Nick ?

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Maurice, please do. I want the questions out there. My article "From Ego to Eco: A joyous and uplifting journey expands on the idea. https://www.nickheap.co.uk/from-ego-to-eco-joyfully/. We can get out of the mess we are in and enjoy life too.

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Suzanne, I think you might be working on a flawed theory of change (and the story that goes with it).

1. Stories are but ONE factor that influences people's action, and not the root factor either. Other factors: the presence or absence of loving families, villages and tribes, the kind of work they do (or not) to survive, thrive and connect with other people and other beings, how resources are produced and distributed, how connected they are to the nature around them (as opposed to the nature on a screen), how meaning is created in the first place, how much time they have to absorb new stories, how healthy their minds and bodies are, how much trauma they have been exposed to, and how resilient (or anti-fragile) they are.

2. Of course stories can influence these other factors, but the influence goes BOTH ways.

3. Most people on the planet are NOT rugged individualists. That's mostly a symptom of WEIRD (I assume you know the acronym) societies. Jihadists are very altruistic, willing to sacrifice themselves for god, family and their community/family/religion, for example. Most people have much more community-oriented stories, but there are other problems with their stories, so the rugged individualism story is only PART of the problem.

4. Stories compete (and sometimes synergise) with each other in people's hearts and minds. They don't have to be true, and truth is one factor among many for who wins for each person. Emotional appeal to base instincts (love, fairness, justice, loyalty, connection, hate, vanity, feeling special) is another factor. Your story will win for some people, but probably not for most, especially if they have compelling stories already.

5. Even if you could find a few people who whole heartedly adopt your story (which I know does not belong to you, and does not originate from you only, mystics throughout history have had a version of it), it is not sufficient as a story in a world with people who have other stories and some of them will compete with you in material and even existential ways (as in killing you). Indeed some native American tribes with that story were exterminated by westerners with another story. People with your story in Israel at the communes and the Nova music festival were killed by Jihadists with another story. Palestinians with that story are thrown off roofs by Jihadists. Sufis with that story have been heavily abused and it's a miracle they still exist. After the current global economy collapses, patriarchal Amish folks who are peaceful will outcompete, in resource-competition, groups of mystics, because of their protestant work-ethic and superior local-tech skills.

6. Cooperation between people is sometimes enhanced when those people are in a group COMPETING with other groups. The current multi-level selection hypothesis is that external competition (for resources or for hearts and minds) drives (selects for) internal cooperation, and that this is the ONLY thing that drives internal cooperation. I don't think the second half of that is true (the first part has plenty of experimental support) and we are just beginning to understand what other factors there are, not just for beings like us with complex cognition, but even for biological systems without (or only simple, minimal) cognition.

7. If we find stories AND ways of doing and being that work (which means going beyond individual cognition into how higher order groups of individuals are organized), we don't need to have it work for everyone on earth all at once. We need to start with individuals, build groups, federations of groups gradually, and OUTCOMPETE (gasp, that dirty word again!) other individuals, groups and federations. We must become not only more prosperous, but be able to defend ourselves against them if they choose to attack us, or steal resources from us, or convert us with money or other stories that get us addicted or hooked. Indeed that is the way it has always happened both for humans and other life forms, from when life started till now.

I don't say all this to discourage you, but hopefully to broaden your understanding, and hopefully mine as well. I get the urgency you feel to make a significant difference for our species (and other species) before we die, I feel it too. I would like to collaborate with you on supporting intentional communities that implement and experiment with certain principles (Ostrom, but not only) that are consistent with our best understanding of emergence and multi-level selection. We could work on tweaking your story, so it is more in line with reality. And there is much work to be done with designing systems of technologies and economies that respect the principles of proper nesting, which we are just beginning to understand.

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Well you are making the case for the way it is. I see all of what you’ve described subsumed by a general sense among humanity that we’re here to take care of each other and the Earth. It's primal. It’s evolutionary, as what we would eventually get to as the culmination of our development.

I get this in my being. It’s because it is there to be gotten. Evolution moves in a positive direction but humanity got so good at the power it had that it could corrupt this basic, you could say indigenous wisdom. Our great brains took over to divert us from the positive evolutionary path, and the challenge is to get back on it before we do ourselves in.

Make sense? Initiating everyone into this understanding is what feels like my calling.

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No, your view (which was also the view of those massacred at Nova and in the Israeli communes) of evolution does not make sense, and it goes against evolutionary theory and available data. It's a New Age fantasy that evolution goes in a "positive" direction. It goes towards more fitness, for genes, for cells, for individual multicellular organisms, for families, for tribes, for nations, for corporations. If we want evolution to go in a certain direction that we deem more positive (in-line with some of our values), we have to also be more fit and outcompete (or convert) those that are making it go in a different direction, or at least figure out how to coexist with them and not be outcompeted by them.

Indigenous people were wise in some ways, but they too had serious problems when they came up against other tribes with different ways and stories, oftentimes leading to inter-tribal warfare. The Iroquois (an exception to the previous) went beyond tribes and managed to form a federation, but they could not get all the north American tribes to join it, and were eventually vanquished by the Europeans.

Power due to intelligence is not a problem, when it is properly nested within families, tribes, villages, federations of these, nations, federations of nations, and a United Nations. Individual (individuals are themselves collectives of cells and personalities which they regulate) power is regulated by families and tribes, and each level regulates the level below it from any abuse of power which is not conducive to the good of that level.

Maybe your calling is to get a better understanding of how the world works and how it could be different and help people get there?

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As you point out, Women's Lib was a massive shift. It's roots were in the Connections between The Abolition of Slavery, and The Suffragette Movement. A continuous battle nowadays being fought against the Taliban's suppression of women. On one side we have an ever broadening global consciousness demanding a better world; on the other sits a lid on free exchange of ideas......

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Suzanne, I think you are missing the point here. The very fact that no-one is coming up with The One Big Idea - is that there isn't just ONE. There are thousands of smaller ideas that are the component parts, That hundreds of thousands of people are very busy with - And - We - Communicate.... We accept that it's up to ourselves, and that is the Real Human Spirit.... which INCLUDES Rugged Individuals who don`t always agree with each other, but are willing to accept that they might have missed a point or two; willing to reconsider.... Best wishes, as ever, Maurice

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All those smaller things will be irrelevant if humanity goes extinct, for which some very wise people are making a good case, and "There isn't just ONE" is speculation delivered as fact. Please spend a little time with the links I gave and then come back with comments about them.

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Well Suzanne, you claimed to be the only one doing something, which is what I was responding to, by saying there are all of the smaller ones add up to a massive common consciousness, that is growing. And I thought that you wanted it to grow further, just as I do, just as so many others are pushing for. It’s happening a lot faster than putting a committee together.

I have spent quite a bit of time these last few months reading your links, and making comments that you don’t seem to consider in depth.

I don’t doubt your sincerity Suzanne, we both want to save the world, but are not in agreement as to the method. There is not enough time left to argue. I choose to encourage and support the growth of a myriad of activities. I just wish you would do that too.

With respect, Maurice

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I'm on a different assignment from you. As I've demonstrated to to you I support people and smaller projects but also have my unique role in looking for what would cause a massive shift. Why oppose that, or make it either/or? We coexist.

There was a massive in my lifetime, which encourages me to believe in the possibility for another massive shift. Without Women's Lib you wouldn't be hearing from me. I was Mrs. Him for some years and did things like writing "The Anybody Can Make It Everybody Will Love it Cookbook," but now am looking to cook up not just dinners but a different world.

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Yes indeed, Suzanne, different assignments, and we coexist. I am not decrying what you do….. The Essay Project and the 100 Dollar Offer have both been effective at getting people thinking and discussing ways to save the world. You asked some of us to vote on your selection of some of the essays, which in turn has broadened the discussions.

What I don’t understand is why we don’t get to read the other 90(?)% of the essays submitted, or any of the $100 submissions. Surely making them public would drive the discussion further…. Perhaps there are a few ideas buried there - gems as yet unrecognized…. Allow us, please, to make up our own minds as to which seeds might collectively Save the World.

You are indeed in a unique position, Suzanne ….. sitting on a wealth of ideas that deserve to be scattered. The best will grow, may even deliver the committee, the wisdom council you seek to establish.

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They all all here: https://suespeaks.org/essay-contest/. I frequently talk about the essays and give links to individual ones and sometimes post a whole essay, plus giving that link to all of them. Maybe you aren't reading all I send. And there have been no submissions for $100 that led to what I'm looking for, which gives me the confidence that it's not just me that can't find them but that they don't exist.

One more thing I thought to tell you is that I'm much older than you and as the time I have left grows shorter my boldness grows about delivering not just good things but what changes everything. I want to deliver the max I can before I go.

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I only see the 21 finalists in that link to the essay contest.

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Suzanne, sorry but you are not "the only one looking for us to scheme together about what we are doing now" There is a massive expansion going on of good hearts and minds doing exactly that, both individually and collectively. Not just scheming, but actively DOING stuff already. Yes a committee might help, if you can persuade enough Creatives to give up the work they are already doing, to put in the extended and intensive hours such a body would require. Who then would implement their decisions, and how do you view the strategy and tactics to effectively deliver the implementation ? Your heart is in the right place Dear Lady. I think perhaps sending a few thousand dollars in seed funding to as many diverse small active groups as you can afford, would be more effective than a promise of a hundred bucks per suggestion. Add to that a carefully tailored widespread publicity campaign to attract other funders.... Just look at the results you achieved the last time. Best wishes, Maurice

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First thing to say is that I support smaller projects that you would know for the support I’ve given to you. Thanks goodness there are good people and good ideas, but I’m after bigger game.

As extinction threatens humanity something bigger is called for. You’ve joined the club of people who are sure such things exist, but best evidence they don’t is that I’ve had my offer out for a while, where all it would take is a moment to send me a link and $100 is good pay for that, but links sent to me all have been to smaller endeavors.

I have ideas for more impactful things we could do, and over the almost two years I’ve been writing here I’ve offered a lot of what we-the-people could do to end run around governments who aren’t doing it for us as profit beats even what would address survival. Here’s a track with ideas to talk about: https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/s/changemaking. And this is a track for the thing that could change us the most, which is to adopt a new creation story going beyond rugged individualism to us being sacred creatures: https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/s/brian-thomas-swimme. Anything you could do to get these ideas in play would be wonderful.

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